Prioritization of services for control and data transmission for new radio systems

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and storage media are described for the prioritization of services for control and data transmission for new radio (NR) systems. In particular, some embodiments may be directed to the prioritization of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) transmissions. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/828,338 filed Apr. 2, 2019 and entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS OFPRIORITIZATION OR MULTIPLEXING OF UL CONTROL AND UL CONTROL OR DATATRANSMISSIONS FOR DIFFERENT SERVICES”; and to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/843,142 filed May 3, 2019 and entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHODS OF PRIORITIZATION OR MULTIPLEXING OF UL CONTROL AND UL CONTROLOR DATA TRANSMISSIONS FOR DIFFERENT SERVICES,” the entire disclosures ofwhich are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the technicalfield of wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure are directedto the prioritization of services for control and data transmission fornew radio (NR) systems. In particular, some embodiments may be directedto the prioritization of hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment(HARQ-ACK) transmissions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitatethis description, like reference numerals designate like structuralelements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by wayof limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2, and 3 illustrate examples of operation flow/algorithmicstructures in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of HARQ-ACK resource conflicts in anuplink (UL) slot.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of dropping a HARQ-ACK transmission inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts an architecture of a system of a network in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts an example of components of a device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts an example of interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts a block diagram illustrating components, according tosome embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments discussed herein may relate to the prioritization ofservices for control and data transmission for new radio (NR) systems.In particular, some embodiments may be directed to the prioritization ofhybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) transmissions.Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc.,in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofthe claimed invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the invention claimed may be practiced in other examples thatdepart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptionsof well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not toobscure the description of the present invention with unnecessarydetail.

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described usingterms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments maybe practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes ofexplanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrativeembodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatalternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Inother instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in ordernot to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discreteoperations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understandingthe illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description shouldnot be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily orderdependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in theorder of presentation.

The phrase “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and the likemay refer to the same, or different, embodiments. The terms“comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless thecontext dictates otherwise. The phrase “A and/or B” means (A), (B), or(A and B). The phrases “A/B” and “A or B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B),similar to the phrase “A and/or B.” For the purposes of the presentdisclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” means (A), (B), or (Aand B). The description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “inembodiments,” “in some embodiments,” and/or “in various embodiments,”which may each refer to one or more of the same or differentembodiments. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,”and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, are synonymous.

Examples of embodiments may be described as a process depicted as aflowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, ora block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as asequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel,concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of theoperations may be re-arranged. A process may be terminated when itsoperations are completed, but may also have additional steps notincluded in the figure(s). A process may correspond to a method, afunction, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, and the like. When aprocess corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to areturn of the function to the calling function and/or the main function.

Examples of embodiments may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program code, softwaremodules, and/or functional processes, being executed by one or more ofthe aforementioned circuitry. The program code, software modules, and/orfunctional processes may include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks orimplement particular data types. The program code, software modules,and/or functional processes discussed herein may be implemented usingexisting hardware in existing communication networks. For example,program code, software modules, and/or functional processes discussedherein may be implemented using existing hardware at existing networkelements or control nodes.

The NR use case families, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) andultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) have verydifferent requirements in terms of user plane latency and requiredcoverage levels. The key requirements for URLLC relate to U-planelatency and reliability:

For URLLC the target for user plane latency should be 0.5 ms for UL, and0.5 ms for DL.

The target for reliability should be 1×10-5 within 1 ms.

In NR, uplink control information (UCI) can be carried by physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel(PUSCH). In particular, UCI may include scheduling request (SR), hybridautomatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback, channelstate information (CSI) report, e.g., channel quality indicator (CQI),pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI), CSI resource indicator (CRI) and rankindicator (RI) and/or beam related information (e.g., L1-RSRP (layer1—reference signal received power)).

As agreed in NR, when PUCCH resources carrying different UCI typesoverlap at least one symbol in time in a slot and if the UE is providedhigher layer parameter simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI, UE would multiplexdynamic HARQ-ACK and/or SR and/or one or more CSI in a resource which isindicated by a PUCCH resource indication field in the DCI scheduling aPDSCH reception according to the payload size of the combined UCI.

However, when PUCCHs carrying UCIs with different reliabilityrequirement overlap in a slot, it may not be desirable to multiplex UCIsinto one PUCCH. For instance, it is expected that a large amount ofresources would be allocated for UCI with very low, e.g. 10-5 BlockError Rate (BLER) target. If UCI with ultra-reliability requirement ismultiplexed with UCI with 10-2 BLER target and transmitted in onephysical channel, this large resource allocation may not be desirablefor UCI with 10-2 BLER target due to spectrum efficiency loss. Toaddress this issue, certain mechanisms may need to be defined tomultiplex UCI with different reliability and latency requirements.

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure are directedto the prioritization of different services for control and datatransmission. In particular, embodiments of the present disclosure maybe directed to:

Prioritization of HARQ-ACK when more than one HARQ-ACK resourcesoverlap;

Prioritization of HARQ-ACK when resources of more than one HARQ-ACKoverlap with other UCI types;

Prioritization or dropping of UL data PUSCH when its resource overlapsdifferent UCI types.

In the examples below, it is assumed that for multiplexing multiple ULcontrol information (e.g., HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI) together, timelinerequirements as defined in Section 9.2.5 in 3GPP TS 38.213 V15.5.0, “NR:Physical layer procedures for control,” 2020 Jan. 14. are satisfied.Furthermore, a parameter or a UE behavior be configured implies theparameter or UE behavior is identified via higher layer signaling, suchas UE specific RRC signaling. Furthermore, the HARQ-ACKs in the examplesmentioned below may correspond to dynamically scheduled PDSCHs and/orsemi-statically scheduled PDSCHs. Moreover, CSI report transmitted on anUL control channel, i.e., PUCCH, can be triggeredperiodically/semi-persistently or aperiodically.

Resource conflicts of multiple HARQ-ACKs of a UE

A NR UE may support different service types and transmission ofdifferent services may have different latency, rates, and/or reliabilityrequirements. In one scenario, HARQ-ACK resources of multiple separateDL transmissions may overlap in time and/or frequency within a slot.Reliability or latency requirements of one HARQ-ACK transmission may behigher than the other HARQ-ACK(s). Hence, in some cases, UE may berequired to transmit one HARQ-ACK transmission only and drop otheroverlapping HARQ-ACK transmissions without multiplexing. In FIG. 4A,resources of two HARQ-ACKs corresponding to two separate DLtransmissions are shown to overlap in an UL slot. Although examplesbelow are provided for overlapping resources of two HARQ-ACKs, similarprinciples can be extended to the cases when resources of more than twoHARQ-ACKs overlap. For example, in the scenario of prioritizing aHARQ-ACK over the others in case their resources overlap, one or moreexamples of prioritization below can be applicable assuming a firstHARQ-ACK is prioritized over a second HARQ-ACK group, i.e., secondHARQ-ACK in the examples below can be replaced by second HARQ-ACK groupwhich comprises the HARQ-ACKs that UE drops in order to prioritize andtransmit the first HARQ-ACK.

In one embodiment, UE may be configured by higher layer signaling suchas UE specific RRC signaling to prioritize and transmit the HARQ-ACKassociated with the DL transmission that is scheduled with a DCIreceived with MCS-C-RNTI. MCS-C-RNTI is used by the gNB when DL and ULgrant indicates MCS from a 64 QAM MCS table that has the lowest SE entryamong the two 64 QAM MCS tables that can be configured for a UE.Alternatively, in one example, UE may be configured by higher layersignaling such as UE specific RRC signaling to prioritize and transmitthe HARQ-ACK associated with the DL transmission that is scheduled witha DCI (received with C-RNTI) which indicates MCS from a configured 64QAM MCS table that has lower SE points than legacy 64 QAM table. Inthese examples, using the 64 QAM MCS table with lowest SE points may beindicative of a scheduled transmission requiring high reliability. Inone example, UE behavior may be specified that UE prioritizes theHARQ-ACK which is triggered by DCI masked with MCS-C-RNTI, transmits theHARQ-ACK and drops other HARQ-ACK with overlapping resource.

In one embodiment, UE may prioritize and transmit the HARQ-ACKcorresponding to the most recent DL transmission among the DLtransmissions for which the resources of HARQ-ACKs are in collision in aslot, that is, HARQ-ACK transmission for the PDSCH scheduled by thelatest PDCCH is prioritized. In another example, UE may prioritize andtransmit the HARQ-ACK for which the indicated K1 (PDCCH to HARQ timingindicator in DCI format 1_0 or 1_1) is smaller. In FIG. 4A, an exampleis shown where HARQ-ACK resource corresponding to first (second) DLtransmission is 3 (1) slot(s) after the slot where the DCI for first(second) DL transmission is received. K1 can be in slot(s) or symbol(s)or a combination thereof.

In one embodiment, K>1 HARQ-ACK codebooks can be configured for a UE andUE may also be configured with priority level for a HARQ-ACK codebookgroup, where a HARQ-ACK codebook group may comprise one or moreconfigured HARQ-ACK codebooks for the UE. For example, a first HARQ-ACKcodebook group may be configured with lower priority level than a secondHARQ-ACK codebook group.

In another variant of the embodiment, the HARQ-ACK CB (codebook) groupis associated with a priority implicitly or based on specifications. Forinstance, the HARQ-ACK CB that supports multiple transmissions of PUCCHwith HARQ-ACK in a slot is specified as one with higher priority. Inthis case, a HARQ-ACK CB (codebook) group may be comprised of one ormore HARQ-ACK CBs such that all of the constituent CBs either support asingle PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK within a slot or supportmultiple transmissions of PUCCH with HARQ-ACK. In one embodiment, if afirst UL resource of HARQ-ACK corresponding to a first DL transmission,where the HARQ-ACK bits are mapped to a HARQ codebook belonging to afirst HARQ codebook group, and a second UL resource of HARQ-ACKcorresponding to a second DL transmission, where the HARQ-ACK bits aremapped to a HARQ codebook belonging to a second HARQ codebook group,overlaps in time and/or frequency, UE prioritizes and transmits theHARQ-ACK corresponding to the second DL transmission and drops theHARQ-ACK corresponding to the first DL transmission when first HARQcodebook group is configured with lower priority than second HARQcodebook group. In one example, if the DCI for first DL transmission istransmitted in slot n and the DCI for second DL transmission istransmitted in slot k, then n<k or n≥k may hold. In one example, lastsymbol of the PDCCH scheduling first transmission may be before the lastsymbol of the PDCCH scheduling second transmission. In another example,first DL transmission ends before the second DL transmission. In anexample, if HARQ-ACKs' resources overlap in time and/or frequency in aslot or in a symbol group and HARQ-ACKs belong to different codebook, UEprioritizes and transmits the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the most recentDL transmission. In one example, UE may identify the HARQ codebook formapping the HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to a DL transmission viaexplicit DCI indication or higher layer signaling or implicitly basedother parameter indications in the DCI, such as indicated time/frequencyresource, MCS, repetition number, number of MIMO layers, PDCCH to HARQtiming indicator, and/or NDI bit (i.e., new or retransmission). In oneexample, priority of the mapped HARQ codebook may be indicated in theDCI or implicitly obtained from the DCI parameters listed above.

In one embodiment, HARQ-ACK of a retransmission may be of higherpriority and if there is overlap in resources of HARQ-ACKs correspondingto a new transmission of HARQ PID x and retransmission of HARQ PID y,x≠y, UE prioritizes and transmits HARQ-ACK corresponding to there-transmission and drops the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the newtransmission. In one example, if there is overlap in resources ofHARQ-ACKs corresponding to ith retransmission of HARQ PID x and jthretransmission of HARQ PID y, x≠y, j>i=>1, UE prioritizes and transmitsHARQ-ACK corresponding to the ith re-transmission and drops the HARQ-ACKcorresponding to the jth re-transmission. In another example, if thereis overlap in resources of HARQ-ACKs corresponding to ith retransmissionof HARQ PID x and jth retransmission of HARQ PID y, x≠y, j>i=>1, UEprioritizes and transmits HARQ-ACK corresponding to the jthre-transmission and drops the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the ithre-transmission.

In one embodiment, if UL resources of two HARQ-ACKs overlap, UEprioritize and transmit the HARQ-ACK that has larger payload than theother HARQ-ACK. For example, one HARQ-ACK may comprise HARQ-ACK bitscorresponding to DL transmissions over multiple carriers (CA case), andother HARQ-ACK may only contain HARQ-ACK bits of transmissions in acarrier. Dropping of HARQ-ACK feedback for CA case may cause systemefficiency loss. Alternatively, in another example, if UL resources oftwo HARQ-ACKs overlap, UE prioritize and transmit the HARQ-ACK that hassmaller payload than the other HARQ-ACK and/or the HARQ-ACK with smallerpayload corresponds to a later DL transmission of the two transmissions.In another variant, the UE may be configured by higher layers to followeither of the two behaviors or one in which priority of HARQ-ACKtransmission is not dependent on HARQ-ACK payload.

In one embodiment, if UL resources of two HARQ-ACKs overlap, UEprioritizes and transmits the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the latter DLtransmission if the payload of resulting multiplexed payload or thecode-rate exceeds a configured threshold.

In one embodiment, if UL resources of two HARQ-ACKs overlap, UEprioritizes and transmits the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the latter DLtransmission if last symbol of the resulting PUCCH resource of themultiplexed HARQ-ACKs is located after L>0 symbols from the last symbolof the original PUCCH resource of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to thelatter DL transmission. Value of L can be configured by higher layer fora given numerology. FIG. 4B illustrates an example where the last symbolof resulting PUCCH resource is L1 and L2 symbols after the last symbolsof original PUCCH resource for first and second HARQ-ACK, respectively.As illustrated in FIG. 4B, in some embodiments where if L1 or L2(depends on which HARQ-ACK corresponds to the latter DL transmission)exceeds a threshold, dropping of the HARQ-ACK corresponding to theearlier DL transmission may be necessary. If the last symbol of theresulting PUCCH resource is located much later in the slot than the lastsymbol of the original PUCCH resource, HARQ-ACK transmission may bedelayed which may adversely affect low latency communications requiringprompt HARQ feedback.

In one embodiment, if the UE is not configured or indicated with anyassociated priority or cannot resolve the priority levels (or ifindicated/configured with same priority level) of the two HARQ-ACKs forwhich the UL resources overlap, UE may follow R15 behavior formultiplexing the HARQ-ACKs (i.e., in terms of payload and/or timelinerequirements) and/or dropping one of the HARQ-ACKs, cf. TS 38.213.

In one embodiment, in case of resource overlaps of the HARQ-ACKs, UEonly multiplex them if they belong to same HARQ codebook and if timelineand/or payload requirements are met, otherwise (if mapped to differentHARQ-ACK codebooks), UE transmits the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the lastDL transmission.

In one embodiment, if no priority level is associated with a first and asecond HARQ-ACK codebook and if resource of HARQ-ACK bits mapped tofirst codebook and second codebook overlaps, UE multiplexes theHARQ-ACKs corresponding to first and second codebook.

In a further embodiment, in case of time-domain overlaps between PUCCHoccasions corresponding to two different HARQ-ACK CBs and whenmultiplexing of HARQ-ACK bits across different CBs is configured to theUE or is to be followed based on implicit rules (discussed above), theUE multiplexes the HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to both CBs and transmitsusing a PUCCH resource indicated by the latter of the two last DCIscorresponding to each HARQ-ACK CB. Alternatively, the final PUCCHresource to carry the multiplexed HARQ-ACK bits is the one indicated byone of the two HARQ-ACK CBs as configured by higher layers (that is,irrespective of the relative timing between the last DCIs for eachHARQ-ACK CB). In another example, the last DCI and the PUCCH resourceset associated with the HARQ-ACK CB corresponding to a single PUCCHtransmission with HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot is prioritized indetermining the resulting PUCCH resource to carry the multiplexedHARQ-ACK bits. In yet another example, the last DCI and the PUCCHresource set associated with the HARQ-ACK CB corresponding to a multiplePUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot is prioritized indetermining the resulting PUCCH resource to carry the multiplexedHARQ-ACK bits.

In one embodiment, a PUCCH resource set or a PUCCH resource isconfigured by higher layers to be associated with a certain prioritylevel. When more than one PUCCH resources with different priority levelscarrying HARQ-ACK codebooks overlap in time in a slot within a PUCCHgroup, PUCCH resource with highest priority is transmitted and PUCCHresource with lowest priority is dropped. Further, when more than onePUCCH resources with same priority levels carrying HARQ-ACK codebooksoverlap in time in a slot within a PUCCH group, UE follows Rel-15behavior to multiplex HARQ-ACK codebooks on one PUCCH resource.

In one embodiment, a control resource set (CORESET) or a search spaceset may be configured by higher layers to be associated with a certainpriority level. When HARQ-ACK codebooks scheduled by CORESETs or searchspace sets with different priority levels overlap in time in a slotwithin a PUCCH group, HARQ-ACK codebooks scheduled by CORESETs or searchspace sets with highest priority level are transmitted and others aredropped. Further, when HARQ-ACK codebooks scheduled by CORESETs orsearch space sets with same priority level overlap in time in a slotwithin a PUCCH group, UE follows Rel-15 behavior to multiplex HARQ-ACKcodebooks on one PUCCH resource.

When DL SPS with sub-slot level granularity is supported for URLLC,certain enhancements need to be considered for HARQ-ACK codebookgeneration and PUCCH resource indication.

In one embodiment, SPS-Config or a PUCCH resource configured byn1PUCCH-AN within SPS-Config may be configured by higher layers to beassociated with a certain priority level. This may indicate that SPSHARQ-ACK is associated with a certain priority level. When SPS HARQ-ACKcarried by a PUCCH resource overlaps with one or more PUCCH resourcecarrying CSI/SR and/or HARQ-ACK which is dynamically triggered by a DCIin a PUCCH group in a slot, where SPS HARQ-ACK may be associated withhigher priority, UE may transmit SPS HARQ-ACK and drop other UCI typesand vice versa.

In one embodiment, when more than one SPS HARQ-ACK feedbacks overlapwith HARQ-ACK which is dynamically triggered by a DCI for schedulingPDSCH, and if these HARQ-ACK feedbacks are associated with same priorityor if these HARQ-ACK are not configured or implicitly implied to beassociated with priority level, UE multiplexes all HARQ-ACKs in a PUCCH,where the PUCCH resource is determined by the PUCCH resource indicator(PRI) carried in the scheduling DCI for the dynamically scheduled PDSCHfrom the selected PUCCH resource set, which is determined in accordancewith the combined payload size. Note that the bits in the combinedHARQ-ACK codebook can be ordered as: first SPS HARQ-ACK bits, followedby HARQ-ACK bits corresponding to PDSCH which is dynamically triggered,where SPS HARQ-ACK can be ordered based on the timing of DL SPS PDSCHtransmission and/or PUCCH resource.

In one embodiment, when more than one SPS HARQ-ACK feedbacks overlapwith CSI report/SR, and if SPS HARQ-ACK and CSI report/SR are associatedwith same priority, UE may multiplex SPS HARQ-ACK and CSI report/SR in asingle PUCCH resource, where the PUCCH resource is selected frommulti-CSI-PUCCH-ResourceList and determined based on the combinedpayload size. The SPS HARQ-ACK codebook can be determined as mentionedabove.

In one example, if sub-slot level DL SPS (i.e., multiple SPS occasionsin a slot) is configured for a UE, and if more than 1 SPS HARQ-ACKoverlap with SR, the HARQ-ACK+SR is transmitted in a PUCCH resourcebased on the earlier SPS occasion in the slot. In another example, SR isjust dropped and not transmitted.

Resource Conflicts of One or More HARQ-ACKs and CSI Report

In a given duration (e.g., in a slot or within a group of contiguoussymbols), resources of multiple HARQ-ACKs of a UE may overlap in timeand/or frequency with PUCCH resource of CSI report. In one embodiment,UE multiplexes the HARQ-ACKs with the CSI report into one resultingPUCCH resource if the timeline and/or payload requirement is satisfied,e.g., following R15 behavior, cf. TS 38.213.

In one embodiment, a PUCCH resource within multi-CSI-PUCCH-ResourceListor multi-CSI-PUCCH-ResourceList may be configured by higher layers to beassociated with a certain priority level. In this case, CSI reportcarried by PUCCH is associated with a priority level.

Note that when more than one CSI reports overlap in a slot, one CSIreport carried by a PUCCH resource with highest priority is transmittedand other CSI reports carried by PUCCH resources with lower priority aredropped.

In one embodiment, if UE is configured to prioritize to transmit oneHARQ-ACK in case resources of more than one HARQ-ACK feedback bitsoverlap and if PUCCH resource of CSI report overlaps with the resourceof the prioritized HARQ-ACK, UE multiplexes the CSI report with theprioritized HARQ-ACK and transmits in a resultant new PUCCH resource.Prioritization indication by the UE to identify which HARQ-ACK totransmit can be obtained according to the examples mentioned above under“resource conflicts of multiple HARQ-ACKs”. In one example, UEmultiplexes CSI report with the HARQ-ACK corresponding to the mostrecent DL transmission, among the K>1 DL transmissions for which theresources of HARQ-ACKs overlap, and drop HARQ-ACKs associated other K−1DL transmissions.

In one embodiment, if UE is configured to prioritize to transmit oneHARQ-ACK in case resources of more than one HARQ-ACK feedback bitsoverlap and if PUCCH resource of CSI report overlaps with the resourceof the prioritized HARQ-ACK, UE transmits the prioritized HARQ-ACK anddrops the CSI report and other HARQ-ACKs. Moreover, in the context ofthis example, if UE is configured to prioritize to transmit one HARQ-ACKin case resources of more than one HARQ-ACKs overlap and if PUCCHresource of CSI report does not overlap with the resulting PUCCHresource of the prioritized HARQ-ACK, UE transmits the prioritizedHARQ-ACK and the CSI report in non-overlapping PUCCH resources and dropother HARQ-ACKs.

In one embodiment, if UE is configured to prioritize to transmit oneHARQ-ACK in case resources of more than one HARQ-ACK feedback bitsoverlap and if PUCCH resource of CSI report overlaps with the resourceof the prioritized HARQ-ACK, UE transmits the prioritized HARQ-ACK anddrops other HARQ-ACKs and multiplexes the CSI report with theprioritized HARQ-ACK if certain conditions are met such as payload ofCSI report or combined payload or code rate is below a configuredthreshold. This may facilitate protecting the reliability of theprioritized HARQ-ACK transmission when it is multiplexed with CSIreport.

In one embodiment, if the resources of at least one HARQ-ACK overlapswith resource of CSI report where the CSI report is based on the CQItable associated with a configured BLER target such as 10⁻⁵, UEprioritizes and transmits the CSI report and drops the HARQ-ACK. Inanother example, if the resources of a first HARQ-ACK overlaps withresource of CSI report where the CSI report is based on the CQI tableassociated with a configured BLER target such as 10⁻⁵, UE multiplexesthe CSI report with the first HARQ-ACK, with or without any prioritylevel associated with the first HARQ-ACK.

Resource Conflicts of One or More HARQ-ACKs and/or SR and/or CSI Report

NR supports configuration of multiple scheduling requests from a singledevice. A logical channel can be mapped to zero or more schedulingrequest configurations. This provides the gNB not only with informationthat there are data awaiting transmission in the device, but also whattype of data are awaiting transmission. This is useful information forthe gNB given the wider range of traffic types the NR is designed tohandle. For example, the gNB may want to schedule a device fortransmission of latency-critical information but not fornon-latency-critical information.

In one embodiment, a UE is configured with a first and a second SRconfigurations where first SR configuration has a higher priority thansecond SR configuration, and if resources of one or more HARQ-ACKsoverlap with the resource of a positive SR transmit occasion accordingto first SR configuration, UE prioritizes the SR transmission and dropsthe HARQ-ACK(s) (i.e., a certain SR configuration may not allowmultiplexing with HARQ-ACKs). Furthermore, if resources of one or moreHARQ-ACKs overlap with the resource of a positive SR transmit occasionaccording to second SR configuration, UE either multiplexes the SR withthe HARQ-ACKs or transmits one or more HARQ-ACKs and drops the SR. UEmay attempt to transmit the dropped SR at next opportunity according tothe configuration. In one example, if resources of one or more HARQ-ACKsoverlap with the resource of a positive SR transmit occasion accordingto first SR configuration, UE multiplexes the SR with one or moreHARQ-ACKs if the last symbol of the resultant PUCCH resource is notlocated after K symbols of the last symbol of the original SR transmitoccasion, otherwise UE prioritizes and transmits SR and drops the one ormore HARQ-ACKs. K can be configured by higher layer, e.g., as part of SRconfiguration.

In one embodiment, a higher layer parameter e.g., simultaneousSR-CSI maybe configured as part of the SR and/or CSI report configurations, whichif present, indicates that SR and CSI report can be multiplexed.Alternatively, in one example, a UE is configured with a first and asecond SR configurations where first SR configuration has a higherpriority than second SR configuration or second SR configurationincludes simultaneousSR-CSI whereas first SR configuration does not, anda first and a second CSI report configurations where first CSI reportconfiguration has a higher priority than second CSI report configurationor second CSI report configuration includes simultaneousSR-CSI whereasfirst CSI report configuration does not, and if resources of SR and CSIreport overlaps, one or more of the following behaviors can beconfigured for the UE:

-   -   If transmit occasion of a SR, e.g., positive SR, based on first        SR configuration overlaps with resource of CSI report based on        first CSI report configuration, UE prioritizes and transmits SR,        and drops CSI report, i.e., if none of the colliding SR and CSI        report support simultaneousSR-CSI, UE can be configured to        prioritize SR over CSI report.    -   If transmit occasion of a SR, e.g., positive SR, based on first        SR configuration overlaps with resource of CSI report based on        second CSI report configuration, UE prioritizes and transmits        SR, and drops CSI report, i.e., although CSI report support        simultaneousSR-CSI, SR configuration does not support and UE can        be configured to prioritize SR over CSI report.    -   If transmit occasion of a SR, e.g., positive SR, based on second        SR configuration overlaps with resource of CSI report based on        second CSI report configuration, UE multiplexes SR and CSI        report into a PUCCH resource, e.g., based on PUCCH format that        UE would use for transmission of CSI report.

In one embodiment, if resources of SR and CSI report overlaps, UE maymultiplex SR with CSI report if last symbol of the PUCCH carrying thecombined UCI is not located after K≥1 symbols after the last symbol oforiginal PUCCH resource of SR transmit occasion. K can be configured byhigher layer, e.g., as part of SR configuration, such as how much apositive SR can be delayed if multiplexed with other UCI.

In one embodiment, within a given duration (e.g., in a slot or a groupof contiguous symbols), if resources of a first HARQ-ACK and/or a secondHARQ-ACK, a CSI report associated with a first CSI report configuration(in 3GPP spec, referred to as CSI-ReportConfig), and an SR associatedwith a first SR configuration overlaps, following UEbehaviors/procedures/configurations can be identified:

-   -   If UE is configured with simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI, UE        multiplexes both HARQ-ACKs, with or without multiplexing SR, and        CSI onto a single PUCCH resource, e.g., up to a maximum combined        UCI payload, which if exceeds, UE may drop part of or full CSI        report        -   If UE is not configured with simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI, UE            either multiplexes both HARQ-ACKs with or without            multiplexing SR, or prioritizes and transmits one HARQ-ACK            with or without multiplexing SR and drops the other            HARQ-ACK, and drops CSI report    -   First HARQ codebook is configured with simultaneousHARQ-ACK-CSI        whereas second HARQ codebook is not, which may imply:        -   If resources of SR and CSI report overlaps with resource of            first HARQ-ACK associated with first codebook, UE            multiplexes HARQ-ACKs, with/without multiplexing SR, and CSI            onto a single PUCCH resource        -   If resources of SR and CSI report overlaps with resource of            second HARQ-ACK associated with second codebook, UE            prioritizes and transmits second HARQ-ACK with/without            multiplexing SR, and drops CSI report        -   If resources of SR and CSI report overlaps with resources of            first HARQ-ACK and second HARQ-ACKs associated with first            codebook and second codebook respectively, UE either            multiplexes both HARQ-ACKs and CSI with or without            multiplexing SR, or prioritizes and transmits second            HARQ-ACK with or without multiplexing SR and drops the first            HARQ-ACK, and drops CSI report. Accordingly, the resulting            PUCCH resource may be determined based at least in part on            the PUCCH resource sets and PRI associated with the first or            the second HARQ-ACK CB respectively.    -   If resources of SR and CSI report overlaps with resource of        first HARQ-ACK associated with first codebook, UE multiplexes        HARQ-ACKs, SR, and CSI onto a single PUCCH resource, if the last        symbol of the resultant PUCCH resource carrying the combined UCI        payload is not located after K1≥1 and/or K2≥1 symbols of the        last symbols of the original PUCCH resource carrying HARQ-ACK        and SR, respectively, otherwise, UE transmits the HARQ-ACK        with/without multiplexing SR and drops CSI. In one example, K1        and K2 can be higher layer configured, and can be included in        codebook and SR configuration separately.        -   In one example, resources of SR and CSI report overlaps with            resources of first HARQ-ACK associated with first codebook            and resources of second HARQ-ACK associated with second            codebook, however second HARQ-ACK is not latency critical            and its associated codebook may not configured with any K            value as mentioned in previous example. Hence, if UE chooses            to multiplex both HARQ-ACKs, conditions in above bullet may            still apply (regarding K1, K2), and if not satisfied, UE            transmits the multiplexed HARQ-ACKs or the prioritized            HARQ-ACK with/without multiplexing SR and drops CSI.

In one embodiment, in case when one or more CSI report, one or moreHARQ-ACK codebooks, or one or more SR with same or different prioritylevels overlap in a slot, UE may first drop the one or moreCSI/HARQ-ACK/SR with lower priorities when overlapping, and subsequentlymultiplex the CSI/HARQ-ACK/SR with highest priority when overlapping inaccordance with the multiplexing rule as defined in Rel-15.

In one embodiment, in case when one or more CSI report, one or moreHARQ-ACK codebooks, or one or more SR with same or different prioritylevels overlap in a slot, UE may first multiplex the CSI/HARQ-ACK/SRwith same priority when overlapping in accordance with the multiplexingrule as defined in Rel-15. Subsequently UE drops one or moreCSI/HARQ-ACK/SR with lower priority and transmits CSI/SR/HARQ-ACK (ifany) with highest priority.

Note that the above two embodiments can also be applicable for the casewhen one or more PUSCHs and one or more PUCCHs with same or differentpriority levels overlap in a slot within a PUCCH group.

Resource Conflicts of UL Data and UL Control

In the following embodiments/examples, PUSCH can be dynamic grant-basedor configured-grant based, unless otherwise mentioned. In the examples,where PUSCH is dropped and one or more UCI types can be multiplexed orone UCI type may be prioritized over one or more other UCI types iftheir resources overlap, examples of prioritization and multiplexingmentioned above apply here too. For multiplexing or dropping to takeplace, following examples assume necessary requirements regardingtimeline is satisfied. Refer to TS 38.213 for considerations on timelinerequirements for UCI multiplexing.

In one embodiment, if a PUCCH transmission that includes a positive SRoverlaps with a PUSCH without UL-SCH on a serving cell, e.g., containsonly A-CSI report, where the PUSCH duration is no more than K≥1 symbols,e.g., K=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 symbols for a given numerology, UE transmitsthe PUSCH and drops/delays the SR. K can be configured by higher layer.

In one example, SR can be multiplexed/piggybacked on to the PUSCHwithout UL-SCH. The PUSCH may also carry aperiodic CSI report.

In one embodiment, if resource of a first PUSCH or a PUSCH repetitionoverlaps with resources of a first HARQ-ACK and a second HARQ-ACK and/orresources of first and/or second SR and/or resource of a first CSIreport in a slot or in a contiguous group of symbols, where:

-   -   If resources of first and second HARQ-ACK overlaps        -   if first HARQ-ACK is prioritized over second HARQ-ACK            -   UE may transmit the first HARQ-ACK, and drop the PUSCH                and second HARQ-ACK                -   HARQ-ACK transmission can be multiplexed with SR                    and/or CSI report or prioritized over SR and/or CSI                    report            -   UE may multiplex the first HARQ-ACK onto PUSCH according                to the indicated or configured beta offset values and                drops second HARQ-ACK                -   One or more overlapping SR is dropped, CSI report                    can be multiplexed onto PUSCH along with first                    HARQ-ACK        -   UE may multiplex both HARQ-ACKs, along with CSI report, onto            PUSCH according to the beta-offset configured or indicated            -   If first HARQ-ACK is associated with first HARQ codebook                and second HARQ-ACK associated with a second codebook,                UE may be configured with same or separate beta offsets                associated with the codebooks.            -   One or more overlapping SR is dropped    -   if resources of first and second HARQ-ACK does not overlap        -   UE may multiplex the first HARQ-ACK onto PUSCH according to            the indicated or configured beta offset values and drops            second HARQ-ACK            -   One or more overlapping SR is dropped, CSI report can be                multiplexed onto PUSCH along with first HARQ-ACK        -   UE may transmit the first HARQ-ACK and second HARQ-ACK, and            drop PUSCH            -   HARQ codebook configuration or at least one of the DCIs                that scheduled the PDSCHs corresponding to the first and                second HARQ-ACK may include indication of prioritization                so that other overlapping transmission with the HARQ-ACK                is dropped.            -   SR and/or CSI report may or may not be multiplexed with                overlapping HARQ-ACK        -   UE may multiplex both HARQ-ACKs onto PUSCH according to the            beta-offset configured or indicated            -   If first HARQ-ACK is associated with first HARQ codebook                and second HARQ-ACK associated with a second codebook,                UE may be configured with same or separate beta offsets                associated with the codebooks.            -   CSI report can be multiplexed along with HARQ-ACK onto                PUSCH            -   SR is dropped    -   If PUSCH resource configuration or DCI that scheduled the PUSCH        includes an indication of prioritization of PUSCH        -   UE drops overlapping SR(s), regardless of SR configuration,            and multiplexes HARQ-ACK(s) and/or CSI report onto PUSCH            according to configured or indicated beta offset        -   UE drops the PUSCH and transmits the SRs, assuming resources            of SR transmit occasion does not overlap and SR            configuration of at least one SR prioritizes SR transmission            over PUSCH            -   UE may multiplex first or second SR with HARQ-ACKs                and/or CSI report, if SR configuration allows and/or                resultant PUCCH resource does not end beyond a certain                duration after the original SR transmit location, cf.                examples mentioned above regarding handling conflicts of                SR and other UCIs.

In Rel-15, a UE does not expect to receive a PDSCH that is scheduledafter reception of an UL grant scheduling a PUSCH such that the HARQ-ACKfor the PDSCH is to be multiplexed with the PUSCH. However, in oneembodiment, when configured with slot-based or enhanced PUSCHrepetitions, the UE may receive a PDSCH subsequent to reception of an ULgrant triggering PUSCH transmissions with repetitions. In such a case,the UE may be expected to multiplex the HARQ-ACK (and any other UCI aspermitted by multiplexing rules and time-line conditions) on a PUSCHrepetition that overlaps with the PUCCH resource for HARQ-ACK feedbackthat follows the first repetition in the sequence of repetitions for thescheduled PUSCH.

In one embodiment, a first PUSCH/PUSCH repetition(s) and a secondPUSCH/PUSCH repetition(s) overlaps, UE may be configured to prioritizeand transmit first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions over second PUSCH/PSUCHrepetitions

-   -   UE may drop overlapping portion or repetitions of second        PUSCH/PUSCH repetition(s)    -   UE may drop or transmit the remaining portion or remaining        repetitions of second PUSCH/PUSCH repetition(s)    -   After resolving which PUSCH to transmit in the overlapping        duration, UE either prioritize and transmit the selected PUSCH        dropping one or more overlapping UCI types or one or more        overlapping UCI types (HARQ-ACK/CSI) can be multiplexed on to        the selected PUSCH, except for SR which is dropped if there is a        transmit occasion that overlaps with selected PUSCH.

In one embodiment, a first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions overlaps with firstSR based on first SR configuration and a second PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions,

-   -   If the given SR configuration is prioritized,        -   First SR does not overlap with second PUSCH            -   SR and second PUSCH are transmitted. First PUSCH is                dropped, regardless of whether first PUSCH is                prioritized over second PUSCH or not        -   First SR overlaps with second PUSCH            -   SR is transmitted and both PUSCHs are dropped    -   If first PUSCH is prioritized over SR        -   UE drops SR and overlapping portion or repetitions of second            PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions, assuming first PUSCH/PUSCH            repetitions are prioritized

In one embodiment, a first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions overlaps withresource of a first UCI and a second PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions, wheresecond PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions end after first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions

-   -   If second PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions is prioritized over first        PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions and transmitted, UE drops the        overlapping portion or repetitions of first PUSCH/PUSCH        repetitions and multiplexes UCI onto second PUSCH/PUSCH        repetitions        -   Alternatively, UE may multiplex UCI onto one of the            remaining repetitions of first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions that            does not overlap with second PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions

In one embodiment, if resource of a UCI (HARQ-ACK/CSI) overlaps withresources of a first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions and a second PUSCH/PUSCHrepetitions, where second PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions end after firstPUSCH/PUSCH repetitions

-   -   UE may multiplex UCI onto the first PUSCH/PUSCH repetitions,        i.e., whichever PUSCH ends early        -   This is assuming two PUSCHs do not overlap    -   If UCI is prioritized and not to be multiplexed with PUSCH        -   The overlapping portions of the first and second PUSCHs are            punctured

In one embodiment, a positive SR arrives at the UE and based on LCH/LCPprocedure at the UE, a first resource based on a first SR configurationis chosen to transmit the SR. Moreover, UE has data bits to betransmitted, either based on dynamic or configured grant, and the SRarrives, e.g., x=>1 symbols (based on a given numerology of thePUSCH)_or x>0 micro-seconds, before the UE completes MAC PDU developmentfor the data bits, with or without multiplexing other UCI such asHARQ-ACK and/or CSI. The PUSCH is mapped to a second resource withoverlaps with first resource. In one example, if SR has a higherpriority than PUSCH, which can be decided based on LCH priority, SR canbe transmitted by dropping the PUSCH. However, this may result inthroughput loss if the PUSCH is long. In one example, UE may beconfigured to multiplex SR onto PUSCH, if the SR arrives before UEbuilds the MAC PDU. UE can be configured with such multiplexing behavior(e.g., with UE specific RRC signaling), if a given SR configuration isused and/or may have a higher priority than other SR configuration or SRis identified to be at a higher priority level than PUSCH based onLCH/LCP at MAC. In another example, UE only considers multiplexing SRonto PUSCH, if SR transmit occasion overlaps with PUSCH, regardless ofwhich SR configuration is used. SR can be multiplexed onto PUSCH, withor without including other UCI types such as HARQ-ACK and/or CSI report,in one or more of the following ways:

-   -   SR is transmitted using part of the PUSCH resources    -   The number of SR bits may depend on the number of states where        SR configurations overlap with PUSCH. In particular, assuming K        SR configurations overlap with PUSCH, the number of bits for SR        on PUSCH can be determined as ┌log₂(K+1)┐    -   At least for ≤2 bit HARQ-ACK and SR, HARQ-ACK may be jointly        encoded and HARQ-ACK and/or SR bits may be transmitted by        puncturing the CSI part 2 or UL-SCH of the PUSCH.    -   For >2 bit HARQ-ACK and SR, HARQ-ACK may be jointly encoded and        other UCI and UL-SCH are rate-matched around HARQ-ACK+SR        -   For the cases, wherein rate-matching-based multiplexing is            applied, the UE can be configured with one or more beta            offset values for multiplexing SR onto PUSCH. A certain beta            offset value from a set of configured beta offset values can            be indicated by higher layer signaling or in the DCI            scheduling the PUSCH.            -   In one example, if transmit occasion of SR of a first SR                configuration overlaps with PUSCH and UE is configured                by higher layer to multiplex SR onto PUSCH, UE may                always reserve a certain number of REs within the mapped                resource for PUSCH based on configured/indicated beta                offset value, i.e., regardless of positive SR exists at                the overlapping SR transmit occasion based on first SR                configuration. UE multiplexes SR onto those REs if SR                exists, otherwise those REs may be empty and no data                bits are transmitted onto those REs.            -   In another example, if transmit occasion of SR of a                first SR configuration overlaps with PUSCH and UE is                configured by higher layer to multiplex SR onto PUSCH,                UE may only multiplex SR onto PUSCH based on                configured/indicated beta offset value if positive SR                exists. If positive SR does not exist, UE instead uses                all the REs of indicated PUSCH resource for data                transmission. In this case, gNB would have to blindly                decode whether SR is transmitted or not by the UE.    -   UE can be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., UE        specific RRC signaling) with a set of DMRS pattern and a DMRS        pattern from the configured set can be used with PUSCH to        indicate that PUSCH is carrying SR. To identify the priority or        configuration of SR, a certain DMRS pattern can be used. For        example, if SR is mapped to first SR configuration, then a first        DMRS pattern is used, whereas if SR is mapped to second SR        configuration, a second DMRS pattern may be used.

In another embodiment, buffer status report (BSR) can bemultiplexed/appended to data bits in a PUSCH, where BSR may also includepriority information. This may aid the gNB to identify that UE hasurgent data bits waiting in the buffer and gNB could send an UL grantwith appropriate resource allocation promptly.

In yet another embodiment, a positive SR arrives at the UE and based onLCH/LCP procedure at the UE, a first resource based on a first SRconfiguration is chosen to transmit the SR. Moreover, UE has data bitsto be transmitted, either based on dynamic or configured grant, and theSR arrives, e.g., before or within x≥1 symbols based on a givennumerology or x>0 micro-seconds, before the UE completes MAC PDUdevelopment for the data bits or after the UE completes MAC PDUdevelopment for the data bits. The PUSCH is mapped to a second resourcewith overlaps with first resource. In one example, UE can drop the SRand transmit the PUSCH as MAC PDU is already built. However, this maydelay SR transmission and increases latency which may not be desirablefor transmission for a given service. In one example, in this case, UEmay be configured to transmit SR in the first resource or any otherresource during the resource of PUSCH if the SR is based on a firstconfiguration and UE may drop the SR if the SR is based on a secondconfiguration (e.g., first configuration may be of higher priority thansecond configuration). UE may transmit SR during the PUSCH transmissionin one or more of the following ways:

-   -   SR is transmitted using part of the PUSCH resources        -   The number of SR bits may depend on the number of states            where SR configurations overlap with PUSCH.        -   At least for ≤2 bit HARQ-ACK and SR, HARQ-ACK and/or SR bits            may be transmitted by puncturing the CSI part 2 or UL-SCH of            the PUSCH.        -   For >2 bit HARQ-ACK and SR, other UCI are rate-matched            around HARQ-ACK+SR    -   SR is transmitted in the first resource (e.g., first PUCCH        resource) and PUSCH is punctured at the symbols of first PUCCH        resource.        -   At the PUCCH resource symbols, PUSCH may be punctured fully            or partially            -   In one example, PUSCH is punctured for the portion of                PUSCH frequency allocation or RBs where SR PUCCH                resource overlaps            -   In another example, PUSCH is punctured over the full                PUSCH frequency allocation or RBs at the SR PUCCH                resource symbols            -   In another example, due to potential mismatch of                transmit power for PUSCH and PUCCH, UE may skip one or                more symbols of PUSCH before the PUCCH resource in order                to prepare for appropriate transmit power setup for                PUCCH.            -   In one example, UE may be only configured for puncturing                PUSCH for SR, if SR resource comprises less than K=>1                symbols. In one example, K is 1.            -   In one example, UE may be configured for puncturing                PUSCH for SR, if PUSCH resource is longer than M=>1                symbols. In one example, M can be 7 or 14, based on a                given numerology.

In another embodiment, the multiplexing based on transmit-sidepuncturing of the PUSCH REs (when the SR is transmitted using part ofthe PUSCH resources) or symbols (when the SR is transmitted on PUCCHresources) may be followed by the UE irrespective of whether the SR isgenerated in the UE before or after MAC PDU for the concerned PUSCH isgenerated. Alternatively, the multiplexing based on rate-matching ofPUSCH around HARQ-ACK and/or SR REs may be defined irrespective ofwhether the SR is generated in the UE before or after MAC PDUgeneration. In this case, certain REs corresponding at least to aspecified or configured number of SR bits are reserved and the PUSCH israte-matched around these REs irrespective of actual SR transmission.

Further, for the above examples, the SR may only be multiplexed if thePUSCH satisfies certain specified or configured conditions that mayinclude but not limited to: the LCH priority of the PUSCH compared tothat for the SR configuration, the duration of the PUSCH, the SCS forthe PUSCH, the type of PUSCH (configured grant PUSCH or dynamicallygranted PUSCH), etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system 500 of a network inaccordance with some embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include auser equipment (UE) 501 and a UE 502. The UEs 501 and 502 areillustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computingdevices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may alsocomprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as PersonalData Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers,wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wirelesscommunications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 501 and 502 can comprise an Internetof Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designedfor low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. AnIoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

The UEs 501 and 502 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 510—the RAN 510 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 501 and 502 utilize connections 503 and504, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 503 and 504 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UEs 501 and 502 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 502 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 506via connection 507. The connection 507 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11protocol, wherein the AP 506 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®)router. In this example, the AP 506 is shown to be connected to theInternet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system(described in further detail below).

The RAN 510 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 503 and 504. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next GenerationNodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 510 mayinclude one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RANnode 511, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells orpicocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power(LP) RAN node 512.

Any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 501 and 502.In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 can fulfillvarious logical functions for the RAN 510 including, but not limited to,radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearermanagement, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management anddata packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 501 and 502 can beconfigured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any ofthe RAN nodes 511 and 512 over a multicarrier communication channel inaccordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limitedto, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SingleCarrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communicationtechnique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications),although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 511 and 512 to the UEs 501 and502, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practicefor OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resourceallocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds toone OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration ofthe resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted asa resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resourceblocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels toresource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection ofresource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent thesmallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. Thereare several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed usingsuch resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 501 and 502. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 501 and 502 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 502 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 511 and512 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs501 and 502. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 501 and 502.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN 510 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 520—via an S1 interface 513. In embodiments, the CN 520 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the S1 interface 513 issplit into two parts: the S1-U interface 514, which carries traffic databetween the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 522,and the S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface 515, which is asignaling interface between the RAN nodes 511 and 512 and MMES 521.

In this embodiment, the CN 520 comprises the MMES 521, the S-GW 522, thePacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 523, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 524. The MMES 521 may be similar in function to the controlplane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) SupportNodes (SGSN). The MMES 521 may manage mobility aspects in access such asgateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 524 maycomprise a database for network users, including subscription-relatedinformation to support the network entities' handling of communicationsessions. The CN 520 may comprise one or several HSSs 524, depending onthe number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, onthe organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 canprovide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization,naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 513 towards the RAN 510, androutes data packets between the RAN 510 and the CN 520. In addition, theS-GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policyenforcement.

The P-GW 523 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 523may route data packets between the EPC network and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 530 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface 525. Generally, the application server 530 may be an elementoffering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network(e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). Inthis embodiment, the P-GW 523 is shown to be communicatively coupled toan application server 530 via an IP communications interface 525. Theapplication server 530 can also be configured to support one or morecommunication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 501 and 502 via the CN 520.

The P-GW 523 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 526 isthe policy and charging control element of the CN 520. In a non-roamingscenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land MobileNetwork (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol ConnectivityAccess Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with localbreakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE'sIP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF(V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF526 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 530 via theP-GW 523. The application server 530 may signal the PCRF 526 to indicatea new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS)and charging parameters. The PCRF 526 may provision this rule into aPolicy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with theappropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier(QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by theapplication server 530.

FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance withsome embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 600 may includeapplication circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF)circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or moreantennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled togetherat least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may beincluded in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 600 mayinclude fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize applicationcircuitry 602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IPdata received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 mayinclude additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage,display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In otherembodiments, the components described below may be included in more thanone device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in morethan one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 602 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupledwith or may include memory/storage and may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applicationsor operating systems to run on the device 600. In some embodiments,processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packetsreceived from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors orcontrol logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signalpath of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for atransmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processingcircuitry 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments,the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) basebandprocessor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, afifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other basebandprocessor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations indevelopment or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation(2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g.,one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radiocontrol functions that enable communication with one or more radionetworks via the RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all ofthe functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be included inmodules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) 604E. The radio control functions may include, but are notlimited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution,turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or moreaudio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F maybe include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellationand may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in asingle chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board insome embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on achip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN).Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to supportradio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referredto as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 608 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 mayinclude mixer circuitry 606 a, amplifier circuitry 606 b and filtercircuitry 606 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606 c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606 d forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path may be configuredto down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based onthe synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606 d. Theamplifier circuitry 606 b may be configured to amplify thedown-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606 c may be a low-passfilter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwantedsignals from the down-converted signals to generate output basebandsignals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the basebandcircuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the outputbaseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although thisis not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606 a of thereceive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 606 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry606 a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be arrangedfor direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 606 a of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606 a of the transmit signal path may be configuredfor super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 606.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 606 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606 a of the RFcircuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. Insome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be a fractionalN/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 orthe applications processor 602 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplications processor 602.

Synthesizer circuitry 606 d of the RF circuitry 606 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or moreantennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one ormore of the one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, theamplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be donesolely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM 608, or in both the RFcircuitry 606 and the FEM 608.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a lownoise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide theamplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include apower amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RFcircuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or moreantennas 610).

In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may manage power provided to thebaseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 612 may controlpower-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DCconversion. The PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 iscapable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE. The PMC 612 may increase the power conversionefficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heatdissipation characteristics.

FIG. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604.However, in other embodiments, the PMC 612 may be additionally oralternatively coupled with, and perform similar power managementoperations for, other components such as, but not limited to,application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 606, or FEM 608.

In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if thedevice 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected tothe RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may entera state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period ofinactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for briefintervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time,then the device 600 may transition off to an RRC Idle state, where itdisconnects from the network and does not perform operations such aschannel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 goes into a verylow power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakesup to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 600may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable tothe network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging fromseconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totallyunreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sentduring this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay isacceptable.

Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 602 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmissioncommunication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control(RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein,Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described infurther detail below.

FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the basebandcircuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise processors 604A-604E and a memory604G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 604A-604E mayinclude a memory interface, 704A-704E, respectively, to send/receivedata to/from the memory 604G.

The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memoryinterface 712 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memoryexternal to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitryinterface 714 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from theapplication circuitry 602 of FIG. 6), an RF circuitry interface 716(e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 ofFIG. 6), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 (e.g., aninterface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC)components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi®components, and other communication components), and a power managementinterface 720 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or controlsignals to/from the PMC 612.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 8 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 800 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory/storage devices820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 840. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executedto provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.

The processors 810 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit(RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) mayinclude, for example, a processor 812 and a processor 814.

The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, orany suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 820 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 830 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 via anetwork 808. For example, the communication resources 830 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components.

Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussedherein. The instructions 850 may reside, completely or partially, withinat least one of the processors 810 (e.g., within the processor's cachememory), the memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combinationthereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 850 may betransferred to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of theperipheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the memory ofprocessors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the peripheral devices804, and the databases 806 are examples of computer-readable andmachine-readable media.

In various embodiments, the devices/components of FIGS. 5-8, andparticularly the baseband circuitry of FIG. 7, may be used to practice,in whole or in part, any of the operation flow/algorithmic structuresdepicted in FIGS. 1-3.

One example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depicted inFIG. 1, which may be performed by a user equipment (UE) in accordancewith some embodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmicstructure 100 may include, at 105, receiving first UL resourceinformation that includes an indication of a first UL resource in aserving cell of a first hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook.Operation flow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at 110,receiving second UL resource information that includes an indication ofa second UL resource in a serving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the secondHARQ-ACK associated with a second HARQ codebook. Operationflow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at 115, storing thefirst UL resource information and second UL resource information in amemory. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 100 may further include, at120, based on the first UL resource information and the second ULresource information, performing the second HARQ-ACK transmission usingthe second resource, and dropping the first HARQ-ACK transmission

Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depictedin FIG. 2, which may be performed by a UE in accordance with someembodiments. In this example, operation flow/algorithmic structure 200may include, at 205, receiving an indication of a first UL resource in aserving cell of a first hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook.Operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may further include, at 210,receiving an indication of a second UL resource in a serving cell of asecond HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACK associated with a second HARQcodebook. Operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may further include,at 215, determining a first priority associated with the first HARQ-ACKcodebook and a second priority associated with the second HARQ-ACKcodebook, wherein the first priority is lower than the second priority.Operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may further include, at 220,based on the first priority being lower than the second priority,performing the second HARQ-ACK transmission using the second resource,and dropping the first HARQ-ACK transmission.

Another example of an operation flow/algorithmic structure is depictedin FIG. 3, which may be performed by a next-generation NodeB (gNB) inaccordance with some embodiments. In this example, operationflow/algorithmic structure 300 may include, at 305, generating a firstmessage that includes an indication of a first UL resource in a servingcell of a first hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook.Operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may further include, at 310,Encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).Operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may further include, at 315,generating a second message that includes an indication of a second ULresource in a serving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACKassociated with a second HARQ codebook. Operation flow/algorithmicstructure 300 may further include, at 320, Encoding the second messagefor transmission to the UE.

EXAMPLES

Some non-limiting examples are provided below.

Example 1 includes an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) comprising:memory to store uplink (UL) resource information; and processingcircuitry, coupled with the memory, to: receive first UL resourceinformation that includes an indication of a first UL resource in aserving cell of a first hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook;receive second UL resource information that includes an indication of asecond UL resource in a serving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the secondHARQ-ACK associated with a second HARQ codebook; store the first ULresource information and second UL resource information in the memory;and based on the first UL resource information and the second ULresource information, perform the second HARQ-ACK transmission using thesecond resource, and drop the first HARQ-ACK transmission.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the first codebook has a lower priority than the secondcodebook.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein the first UL resource and the second UL resource overlapin time.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 2 or some other exampleherein, wherein the first UL resource and the second UL resource overlapin frequency.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to: determine thatthe first UL resource and the second UL resource overlap, and that thesecond HARQ-ACK transmission is triggered by a second downlink controlinformation (DCI) message and the first HARQ-ACK transmission istriggered by a first DCI message, wherein the first DCI message is toindicate a first priority of the first codebook and the second DCImessage is to indicate a second priority of the second codebook, thesecond priority higher than the first priority; and based further on thedetermination, perform the second HARQ-ACK transmission using the secondresource, and drop the first HARQ-ACK transmission.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 5 or some other exampleherein, wherein the first codebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebookgroup that supports a single physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)transmission with HARQ-ACK within a slot, or supports multiple PUCCHtransmissions with HARQ-ACK.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 6 or some other exampleherein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to determine, basedon dynamic control information (DCI), that the first HARQ-ACK codebookgroup has a lower priority than the second HARQ-ACK codebook group.

Example 8 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediastoring instructions that, when executed by one or more processors,cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive an indication of a first ULresource in a serving cell of a first hybrid automatic repeatrequest-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with afirst HARQ codebook; receive an indication of a second UL resource in aserving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACK associated with asecond HARQ codebook; determine a first priority associated with thefirst HARQ-ACK codebook and a second priority associated with the secondHARQ-ACK codebook, wherein the first priority is lower than the secondpriority; and based on the first priority being lower than the secondpriority, perform the second HARQ-ACK transmission using the secondresource, and drop the first HARQ-ACK transmission.

Example 9 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 8 or some other example herein, wherein the firstHARQ-ACK codebook group has a lower priority than the second HARQ-ACKcodebook group.

Example 10 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in time.

Example 11 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in frequency.

Example 12 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 8 or some other example herein, wherein the firstcodebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supports asingle physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission withHARQ-ACK within a slot, or supports multiple PUCCH transmissions withHARQ-ACK.

Example 13 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 8 or some other example herein, wherein theinstructions are further to: determine that the first UL resource andthe second UL resource overlap, and that the second HARQ-ACKtransmission is triggered by a second downlink control information (DCI)message and the first HARQ-ACK transmission is triggered by a first DCImessage, wherein the first DCI message is to indicate a first priorityof the first codebook and the second DCI message is to indicate a secondpriority of the second codebook, the second priority higher than thefirst priority; and

based further on the determination, perform the second HARQ-ACKtransmission using the second resource, and drop the first HARQ-ACKtransmission.

Example 14 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediastoring instructions that, when executed by one or more processors,cause a next-generation NodeB (gNB) to: generate a first message thatincludes an indication of a first UL resource in a serving cell of afirst hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), thefirst HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook; encode the firstmessage for transmission to a user equipment (UE); generate a secondmessage that includes an indication of a second UL resource in a servingcell of a second HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACK associated with a secondHARQ codebook; and encode the second message for transmission to the UE.

Example 15 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap, and wherein the mediafurther stores instructions to cause the gNB to: encode a first downlinkcontrol information (DCI) message for transmission to the UE, whereinthe first DCI message is to trigger a first HARQ-ACK transmission; andencode a second DCI message for transmission to the UE, wherein thesecond DCI message is to trigger a second HARQ-ACK transmission, andwherein the first DCI message is to indicate a first priority of thefirst codebook and the second DCI message is to indicate a secondpriority of the second codebook, the second priority higher than thefirst priority.

Example 16 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 15 or some other example herein, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in time.

Example 17 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 15 or some other example herein, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in frequency.

Example 18 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the firstcodebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supports asingle physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission withHARQ-ACK within a slot.

Example 19 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the firstcodebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supportsmultiple PUCCH transmissions with HARQ-ACK.

Example 20 includes the one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of example 18 or some other example herein, wherein the firstHARQ-ACK codebook group has a lower priority than the second HARQ-ACKcodebook group.

Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

Example 26 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 27 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 28 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

The description herein of illustrated implementations, including what isdescribed in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe present disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. While specificimplementations and examples are described herein for illustrativepurposes, a variety of alternate or equivalent embodiments orimplementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be made inlight of the above detailed description, without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) comprising:memory to store uplink (UL) resource information; and processingcircuitry, coupled with the memory, to: receive first UL resourceinformation that includes an indication of a first UL resource in aserving cell of a first hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement(HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACK associated with a first HARQ codebook;receive second UL resource information that includes an indication of asecond UL resource in a serving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the secondHARQ-ACK associated with a second HARQ codebook; store the first ULresource information and second UL resource information in the memory;determine that the first UL resource and the second UL resource overlap,and that the second HARQ-ACK transmission is triggered by a seconddownlink control information (DCI) message and the first HARQ-ACKtransmission is triggered by a first DCI message, wherein the first DCImessage is to indicate a first priority of the first codebook and thesecond DCI message is to indicate a second priority of the secondcodebook, the second priority higher than the first priority; and basedon the determination, perform the second HARQ-ACK transmission using thesecond resource, and drop the first HARQ-ACK transmission.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the first codebook has a lower prioritythan the second codebook.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the firstUL resource and the second UL resource overlap in time.
 4. The apparatusof claim 2, wherein the first UL resource and the second UL resourceoverlap in frequency.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the firstcodebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supports asingle physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission withHARQ-ACK within a slot, or supports multiple PUCCH transmissions withHARQ-ACK.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processing circuitryis further to determine, based on dynamic control information (DCI),that the first HARQ-ACK codebook group has a lower priority than thesecond HARQ-ACK codebook group.
 7. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by oneor more processors, cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive anindication of a first UL resource in a serving cell of a first hybridautomatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACKassociated with a first HARQ codebook; receive an indication of a secondUL resource in a serving cell of a second HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACKassociated with a second HARQ codebook; determine: a first priorityassociated with the first HARQ-ACK codebook and a second priorityassociated with the second HARQ-ACK codebook, wherein the first priorityis lower than the second priority; that the first UL resource and thesecond UL resource overlap; and that the second HARQ-ACK transmission istriggered by a second downlink control information (DCI) message and thefirst HARQ-ACK transmission is triggered by a first DCI message, whereinthe first DCI message is to indicate a first priority of the firstcodebook and the second DCI message is to indicate a second priority ofthe second codebook, the second priority higher than the first priority;and based on the determination, perform the second HARQ-ACK transmissionusing the second resource, and drop the first HARQ-ACK transmission. 8.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7,wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebook group has a lower priority than thesecond HARQ-ACK codebook group.
 9. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the first UL resource andthe second UL resource overlap in time.
 10. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in frequency.
 11. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein thefirst codebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supportsa single physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission withHARQ-ACK within a slot, or supports multiple PUCCH transmissions withHARQ-ACK.
 12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storinginstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause anext-generation NodeB (gNB) to: generate a first message that includesan indication of a first UL resource in a serving cell of a first hybridautomatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK), the first HARQ-ACKassociated with a first HARQ codebook; encode the first message fortransmission to a user equipment (UE); generate a second message thatincludes an indication of a second UL resource in a serving cell of asecond HARQ-ACK, the second HARQ-ACK associated with a second HARQcodebook; encode the second message for transmission to the UE; encode afirst downlink control information (DCI) message for transmission to theUE, wherein the first DCI message is to trigger a first HARQ-ACKtransmission; and encode a second DCI message for transmission to theUE, wherein the second DCI message is to trigger a second HARQ-ACKtransmission, and wherein the first DCI message is to indicate a firstpriority of the first codebook and the second DCI message is to indicatea second priority of the second codebook, the second priority higherthan the first priority.
 13. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the first UL resource andthe second UL resource overlap in time.
 14. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the first ULresource and the second UL resource overlap in frequency.
 15. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein thefirst codebook is part of a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supportsa single physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission withHARQ-ACK within a slot.
 16. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the first codebook is partof a first HARQ-ACK codebook group that supports multiple PUCCHtransmissions with HARQ-ACK.
 17. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the first HARQ-ACK codebookgroup has a lower priority than the second HARQ-ACK codebook group.